Spider-Man Villains
Spider-Man has one of the best-known rogues galleries in comics. Many of Spider-Man's villains' origins are based in scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology, paralleling Spider-Man himself. Likewise, many also have animal-themed costumes or powers. Spider-Man's enemies are some of the best rounded antagonists in comics, with equal emphasis put on both their special abilities and their personalities. Spider-Man also has a wide range of villains: hapless thugs, mad geniuses, crime bosses, and even extraterrestrial monsters. Due to the nature of the shared universe he inhabits, he has also fought many villains more closely associated with other heroes. However, these are not considered Spider-Man's own enemies. Greatest Foes Spider-Man's most renowned rogues include: *Beetle - Abner Jenkins was a mechanic for an aircraft producer. Tired of not getting promotions he thought he deserved he decided to strike out on his own. Using a suit of armor, Jenkins became the Beetle. As the Beetle, Jenkins was often foiled by superheroes. His first battle was against the Human Torch and the Thing. Spider-Man in particular was a constant problem, whom he first encountered while attempted to kidnap the Human Torch's girlfriend Dorrie Evans. He was among the many costumed menaces assembled by Doctor Doom to disrupt the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm. *Big Wheel - Jackson "Axel" Weele was an embezzling businessman taunted by the Rocket Racer who decided to get a weaponized Big Wheel made by the terrible Tinkerer. He found being a supervillain was much harder than it looked, and while battling Spider-Man and the Rocket Racer, the Big Wheel fell into the Hudson River, apparently never to be seen again. That is until many years later he turned up having survived the Hudson River and attempted to atone for his crimes. More recently Axel was apprehended by Spider-Man and Iron Man, and charged for having black market connections and selling illegal super hero equipment. During a power game, Spider-Man mentioned "The Big Wheel" (in addition to a gang of mimes) when Reed Richards asked him about the craziest thing he ever encountered. Johnny Storm mentions his name is Axel, that he met him at "The Rusty Nail", and that Axel was working as a security guard. At some time, he became opposed to Network (Valerie Martin), before reform. *Carnage - Carnage is the combination of a symbiote spawned from the original Venom symbiote and the serial killer and former cellmate of Eddie Brock, Cletus Kasady. He thrives on murder and chaos and is stronger than Venom and Spider-Man combined. To stop him the first few times, Spider-Man had to resort to calling on Venom for assistance. Carnage also created a son, too, called Toxin and then a whole other group of symbiotes were created. *Carrion - Malcolm McBride was an Empire State University science graduate student. He applied for a research grant that went to Peter Parker. Resentful, feeling that his rival is not a serious student, Malcolm follows Peter into the bowels of ESU's science building, to the wrecked secret lab used by the Jackal and the original Carrion. Peter is searching for the truth of the clones and comes away with a research journal written by the Jackal. Malcolm finds a test tube containing a glowing green liquid. Back at his dorm, Malcolm studies the liquid and determines that it is a virus that "was created by recombinant DNA technology". It also grows rapidly when exposed to air, slips off the microscope slide and attacks Malcolm in his face and eyes. This exposure turns Malcolm into Carrion, not only giving him the knowledge of Spider-Man's identity but also garbing him in Carrion's rags and shoulder bag containing the deadly red dust. *Chameleon - The first villain Spider-Man ever faced, Dmitri Smerdyakov was a Russian spy with a knack for disguises. Being the half-brother of Kraven the Hunter, he also sought to avenge Kraven's death, become the most powerful crime boss in New York City and utterly destroy Spider-Man with his mind games, including creating the impostors of Peter's parents. The Chameleon was formerly a member in the Green Goblin's Sinister Twelve. *Doctor Octopus - Dr. Otto Octavius is a respected scientist, one of the world's foremost experts in radiation. He used four mechanical arms in his experiments, which bonded with his nervous system after an explosion. He combines physical power with mad genius. Founding member of the Sinister Six. He was responsible for the death of George Stacy and Ock a victim by Spider-Man's insane clone, Kaine, in which Ock was murdered but he was later resurrected by the Hand. He was incarcerated in Riker's Island but escaped when he heard the Green Goblin escaped. The villain confronted the Goblin at the George Washington Bridge and both were struck by electricity, falling into the New York river. Both of them survived, however Otto later discovered tragic news about his health. After years of battling the wall crawler, a fatal disease has taken over and his body is now failing. Given only months to live, Otto modified his harness to sustain his bodiliy functions, while adding an additional four arms and creating an army of miniture "octopus robots" so as to take less pressure on his own body. With his twisted new outlook and suit, Octavius tries to take control of NYC's utilites, but fails once again at the hands of the Human Torch and his long time nemesis. He escapes capture tey again and is still currently in hiding, but swears to carry out a "terrible revenge" upon the city and Spidey, he has then took over Spidey's body, however Peter later regained his body. *Doppelganger - An evil, near-mindless duplicate of Spider-Man that was created by Magus during the battle known as the Infinity War. The six-armed creature was one of many doppelgangers created by Magus during this conflict. The Doppelganger possesses Spider-Man's strength, speed, wall-climbing abilities, and spider-sense, and also has six arms, claws, fangs, and the ability to produce its own razor-edged webbing. *Electro - An emotionally stunted man with an inferiority complex, Max Dillon was struck by lightning while working on power lines and discovered thereafter that he has a supernatural control over electricity. Donning a green and yellow lightning themed costume, he has gone on to battle Spider-Man numerous times. Founding member of the Sinister Six. Electro was one of the Green Goblin's Sinister Twelve members. *Green Goblin - Originally a normal scientist and ambitious businessman, Norman Osborn used an experimental formula which gave him superpowers but also drove him insane. When Spider-Man thwarted his plans to take over as crime boss of New York City, he dedicated himself to utterly destroying Spider-Man's life. Their mutual animosity became personal when he killed Gwen Stacy. Osborn was killed by his own glider, his death didn't end the legacy of the Goblin. Others including his son, Harry, took up the mantle, until he returned and revealed himself as the the mastermind behind the Clone Saga. His heightened strength gave him regenerative powers, allowing himself to be revived. Upon his return, Osborn made life a living hell for the wallcrawler. He was last seen struck by lightning and fallen into the New York river by Dr. Octopus at the George Washington Bridge when the Goblin almost killed Mary Jane Watson like he did to Gwen. He survived yet again and manipulated his children, Gabriel and Sarah, into thinking Spider-Man killed their mother, Gwen, as Gwen and Norman Osborn had an affair. After his children turned against him, he was imprisoned, but he now knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. In revenge he organized the Sinister Twelve to destroy Spider-Man and Black Cat. During the battle, all present, even Osborn, were stunned to discover Mac Gargan had become the new host for the Venom Symbiote. But even this deadly addition couldn't stop the back-up Mary Jane called up, which included SHIELD agents, the Fantastic Four, and several Avengers. Osborn escaped in the battle and saw Spider-Man reveal himself on national television, then watched as he exposed Osborn as being the Green Goblin too. He was then arrested by SHIELD for the murder of Gwen Stacey, and imprisoned in the Vault. Osborn was later inlisted in the Thunderbolts, using his Goblin persona to help hunt down unregistered Superheroes during the Civil War. He managed to gain leadership of the ex-supervillain taskforce during the Pro/Anti registration conflict, but got the most joy when he was ordered to hunt down Spider-Man. During the Skrull Invasion, thanks to intel accidentally sent to him by Deadpool, Osborn managed to be the one to kill Veranke, the queen Skrull and leader of the Earth Invasion. This event put him in the public spotlight as a hero. He used this new fame to manipulate the media and the government, eventually rising to the level of power he always dreamed of. He disbanded the 50 State Intitiative, Avengers and SHIELD, had Tony Stark turned into a wanted criminal, stole his armor to become the heroic "Iron Patriot", then created a secret Cabal of supervillains to undermine and eventually destroy all the remaining heroes that stand against them. He lost control of HAMMER when he tried to invade and destroy Asgard. He later became a human version of the Super-Adaptiod but was defeat by the Avengers and is currently in a coma. *Hobgoblin - A millionaire fashion designer named Roderick Kingsley acquired the Green Goblin's weaponry and used them to further his own ambitions. He later retired from his identity but came back when his brother was killed by Phil Urich who took the Hobgoblin identity for himself. *Jackal - Prof. Miles Warren was once a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University. At some point, he studied genetics under the tutelage of the High Evolutionary, but was expelled from the Evolutionary's headquarters when he proved to be unstable. He received further training and equipment from Maelstrom. Warren fell in love with one of his students, Gwen Stacy, who was the girlfriend of Peter Parker. After Gwen was killed by the original Green Goblin, Warren turned his attention towards methods of cloning, inspired by the creation of a full-grown frog to attempt to clone humans. When he killed his lab partner Anthony Serba (who had discovered the truth) Warren became completely insane, developing the personality of the Jackal as he tried to convince himself that someone else had killed his assistant, rather than he. In his first appearance as the Jackal, he attempted to manipulate the Punisher into killing Spider-Man (this was the popular anti-hero's first appearance), but when the Punisher learned of the Jackal's deception, he turned against Warren. The Jackal - with the aid of a Scrier, working for the Green Goblin - subsequently worked to create clones of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. However, his first apparently successful attempt quickly began to show signs of degeneration. It was much later revealed that this clone managed to escape before Warren could kill him, and would come to be known as the serial killer called Kaine. Warren then refined the process, and although several more failures resulted, he eventually successfully created clones of Gwen, then Peter, who did not suffer from the tell-tale degeneration. The Parker clone and the Jackal were both apparently killed in battle with Spider-Man. Gwen's clone was later1988 captured by the High Evolutionary, who had once been Miles Warren's teacher. He told Spider-Man that she was, in fact, not a clone, but a normal woman named Joyce Delaney whom Warren had altered with a genetic virus. One of his followers, Daydreamer of the Young Gods, restored her memories. Later events, however, suggested that the High Evolutionary had lied and Joyce Delaney never existed. *Jack O'Lantern - The original identity of Jason Macendale who donned an extravagant and theatrical costume (notable for His head is a flaming Pumpkin) and sought to discredit and fought Spider-Man until he became the second Hobgoblin. It was later adopted by Daniel Berkhart, who later became the second Mysterio (the original had commited suicide when confronting Daredevil), and his partner, Maguire Beck, who used the Jack O'Lantern identity but the name Mad Jack. *Kingpin - Wilson Fisk is the most powerful crime boss in New York City and perhaps the entire east coast, thus becoming a frequent foe of Spider-Man. He allied himself with many supervillains so they can do his bidding, eventually starting a feud with another superhero, Daredevil. Fisk even found Daredevil was Matt Murdoch and used this information to ruin his life. Murdock is one of Peter's closest friends, so Spider-Man took this very personally and vowed to help Daredevil bring him down. *Kraven the Hunter - Perhaps the most respected big game hunter in the business, Sergei Kravinoff eventually set on a quest to capture the most elusive prey there is - the amazing Spider-Man. After being defeated numerous times by the web-slinger, his quest became an obsession. When he finaly did defeat Spider-Man, he felt there was nothing more for him to do, so he committed suicide. He was a founding member of the Sinister Six and when they were formed together again, the Hobgoblin replaced him. He has recently returned during the Grim Hunt. *Living Brain - Soon after its creation, was brought to Midtown High School by its creator, Dr. Petty, as a part of a demonstration of its ability to solve any problem. After the Living Brain's demonstration, two workmen hired to transport it overheard the Living Brain's ability to answer anything, and decided to steal it, in order to use its abilities for gambling purposes. Caught in the middle of stealing the Living Brain by Dr. Petty, the two workmen got into a scuffle with him, which ended with one of them being knocked into the control panel on the Living Brain's chest, which caused the Living Brain to malfunction. Going on a rampage through Midtown High, the Living Brain was eventually shut down by Spider-Man, who destroyed its control panel, in a brief fight. The Living Brain reappeared several years later, discredited and broken-down. Dr. Petty planned to donate it to Midtown High School's science lab. The Living Brain ended up being stolen by Dr. Petty's son, Steve Petty, who modified the robot, giving it a gold and red color scheme, clawed hands and the ability to fly. Remotely controlling the Living Brain to attack a bully who had been tormenting him, Steve was eventually defeated by Spider-Man (who had been on a visit to Midtown High as Peter Parker) and the Living Brain was shut down once more. Living Brain later appeared as a member of the Sinister Six when they fought the Superior Spider-Man. Following this, he has it delivered to Horizon Labs, where its reprogrammed to serve as his new lab assistant. *Mysterio - A disgraced stuntman and special effects artist named Quentin Beck who donned an extravagant and theatrical costume (notable for it's fishbowl like helmet) and sought to discredit and frame Spider-Man using illusions. Mysterio is well known for buying into his own hype, treating every moment as if he is a grand performer on the world's stage. He's a founding member of the Sinister Six. His student and friend Daniel Berkhart adopted the identity after Quentin Beck's death when he commited suicide when he fought Daredevil, he has since returned by unknown means. *Sandman - While on the run from the law, the escaped convict William Baker found himself on a remote beach during a nuclear weapon testing. His cells were spliced with sand molecules, and his body became a mass of sand-like substance. Under the alias Flint Marko, he committed many crimes and fought Spider-Man frequently. He was also a hero for some time, until he was brainwashed into being a criminal again. He is a founding member of the Sinister Six. *Shocker - A burglar gifted with a head for engineering, Herman Schultz developed a pair of gauntlets capable of throwing incredibly powerful vibrational blasts. He wears a gold and brown quilted costume to protect himself from the vibrations of his gauntlets. Shocker is one of Spider-Man's most pragmatic and business-minded villains, and usually recognizes his own limitations. *Shriek - During her childhood, she was abused by her mother for being overweight, driving her to drugs and leading to her later fixation on becoming a mother herself. She became a drug dealer, which exposed her to situations that ultimately damaged her sanity; namely, being shot in the head by a police officer, and being put in Cloak's dark dimension. The origin of Shriek's powers is likewise unknown; she may be a mutant, or the powers may have emerged as a result of her time in Cloak's dimension. During Carnage's violent escape from the Ravencroft Institute, he came across Shriek, who was also incarcerated and wished to join him. He freed her, and the pair embarked on a killing spree. They attracted the company of several other homicidal supervillains (Demogoblin, Doppelganger, and Carrion), and formed a "family," with Carnage and Shriek as the "parents" and the others as their "sons". Shriek also used her mental powers to increase the chaos by causing a number of New Yorkers to violently turn on one another, although the heroes were able to calm the people down before they did anything too serious, such as killing their own children. The killers fought a number of heroes, led by Spider-Man, but succumbed to in-fighting. Carnage slew the Doppelganger and left the others to their defeat and capture, although he was subsequently contained by the Avengers after a clash with Spider-Man, Venom and Black Cat. *Speed Demon - Disgruntled chemist tired of his job with the Hudson Pharmaceutical Company of West Caldwell, New Jersey. He was contacted by the Grandmaster and offered superhuman powers in exchange for joining a team that would compete on his behalf. Saunders agreed, and he created a formula based on information given to him by the Grandmaster and that granted him superhuman speed. The Grandmaster then had him take the identity of the Whizzer, join the Squadron Sinister, and fight the Avengers, who themselves were pawns of the Grandmaster’s opponent, Kang The Conqueror. Later, Speed Demon joined the Sinister Syndicate, led by the Beetle (now the hero MACH-IV). During this time, he developed a rivalry with various other members of the team. The team proved short-lived, and Speed Demon rejoined their later incarnation led by the wife of the villain Ringer, which was similarly disbanded shortly after, due as much to the petty in-fighting among its members as their defeat by Spider-Man. Some time later, he was seen in the Bar with no Name, a bar for super-villains, with his legs totally well. Sanders recently appeared as a member of the Sinister Six, alongside Overdrive, Shocker, Boomerang, the Living Brain (former), and Beetle. After landing "thousands of blows in a fraction of a second, he caused Spider-Man to run away. *Spot - As a scientist working for the Kingpin, Dr. Jonathon Ohnn was assigned to reproduce the radiation levels of in Cloak to find a way to artificially mimic his powers. Working late one night, he succeeded, creating a solid black circular portal. In doing so, however, the drain on the city's power became so great, a blackout washed over the city, causing the portal to shimmer and destabilize. Fearful of losing a once in a lifetime opportunity, Ohnn stepped into it; the shock of the transition caused him to pass out. He awoke floating weightlessly in a dimension which he initially assumed was Cloak's dark dimension. He soon realized however that the power shortage caused the portal to send him to a different dimension, a place of half darkness and half light. A seemingly infinite number of portals surrounded him in this place. Making swimming motions, he managed to find the original portal that brought him there and slipped back through it. When Ohnn emerged back in his lab, his body had undergone a radical transformation. The portals from the other dimension had adhered to his skin, covering him with black spots from head to toe. Realizing the spots were portable space warps, he started to think he might be able to use them to defeat anyone in battle. When Spider-Man and the Black Cat arrived to confront the Kingpin, he appeared before them and announced himself as the Spot. Spider-Man collapsed on the roof, laughing at the name. The Spot ended up winning that first confrontation and warned the heroes to leave the Kingpin alone. He later lost a second battle against Spider-Man because he was tricked into throwing too many of his spots as weapons and not keeping enough to defend himself with. Later, the Spot formed a short-lived team with Gibbon, Grizzly, and Kangaroo called the Spider-Man Revenge Squad, which was better known as the Spider-Man Revenge Squad. This team fell apart when Spider-Man carted the Spot and the Kangaroo to jail for bank robbery. *Venom - When Spider-Man rid himself of the alien symbiote costume he wore since the Secret Wars until he got back to Earth, it bonded with reporter Eddie Brock, who hated Spider-Man. The symbiote gave Brock all of Spider-Man's powers, and even more dangerously, the knowledge of his secret identity and protection from his Spider-Sense. Venom had spawned the most dangerous villain, Carnage, who also spawned Toxin and other symbiotes. One time, Venom was cloned and Brock sold the symbiote to an Italian gangster, who died. Currently, the symbiote is now bonded with the Flash Thompson. *Vulture - The elderly Adrian Toomes turned to the life of crime after his business partner cheated him. With a self-invented anti-gravity pack, wings for faster flying and a birdlike costume, he became the high-flying, lowdown Vulture. He is a founding member of the Sinister Six. List of enemies *Beetle *Big Man (Frederick Foswell) *Big Wheel *Black Cat *Boomerang *The Burglar — this unnamed small-time crook played an essential role in Spider-Man's origin. Spider-Man originally intended to use his powers for fame and fortune, but one day allowed a criminal to run past him. Soon after, the same criminal killed Uncle Ben -- and Peter learned that he could have prevented the death by using his powers more responsibly. *Calypso *Cardiac *Carnage *Carrion *Chameleon *Circus of Crime *Crime-Master *Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius) aka Master Planner *Doctor Octopus (Carolyn Trainer) aka Lady Octopus *Doppelganger *Electro *Enforcers *Finisher is an assassin employed by the third Red Skull, Albert Malik. He killed Spider-Man's parents. Spider-Man kills him in self defense (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5) by turning his own missile against him. *Gibbon *Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) *Green Goblin (Harry Osborn) *Grizzly *Hammerhead *Hobgoblin *Human Fly *Hypno-Hustler *Hydro-Man *Jackal *Jack O'Lantern and Mad Jack *Juggernaut *Kangaroo *Killer Shrike *Kingpin *Kraven the Hunter *Lightmaster *Living Brain *Lizard *Looter *Man-Wolf *Menace *Mister Negative *Molten Man *Morbius the Living Vampire *Morlun *Mysterio *Prowler *Puma *Queen *Rhino *Ringer *Rose (Richard Fisk) aka the Schemer *Rocket Racer *Sandman *Scorcher *Scorpion *Shocker *Shriek *Silvermane *Silver Sable *Sin-Eater *Sinister Six, a team of Spider-Man's enemies *Sinister Syndicate, another team of Spider-Man's enemies *Alistair Smythe *Spencer Smythe *Speed Demon *Spider-Slayers (robots) *Spot *Squid *Stegron *Mendel Stromm *Swarm *Tarantula *Tinkerer *Titania *Tombstone *Trapster *Venom *Vermin *Vulture *White Rabbit *Will o' the Wisp References Category:Spider-Man Villains